Donovan Alp

Two years ago, Donovan Alp made his debut with his exhibit “Out of Africa” exhibit.

After some additional trips to South Africa, Alp has returned with “Africa Revisited.”

“This is the result of another couple of trips to South Africa,” Alp said during a Sunday afternoon reception.

Alp works in various different types of mediums with works being in painting, drawing and photographic form. They have been worked on the last several months, with Alp noting his most recent trip to South Africa being in April 2017.

A recent trip saw him visit four countries and five game reserves. Alp, who now lives in LaSalle, was originally born in Zimbabwe.

Donovan Alp stands with one of his works that are currently featured as part of the “Africa Revisited”exhibit at the Gibson Gallery. The exhibit runs through Sept. 23.

“Every painting has a picture of a photo under it so you can see what I was working from,” he said.

Alp said he always has enjoyed going to game reserves and started painting the animals he was taking pictures of after he retired. He noted that some of the animals may not be around for the long term due to poaching and trophy hunting.

There are 16 new paintings or drawings part of “Africa Revisited” with one drawing that was in his 2016 show. Alp said he doesn’t show his work that often, with the two exhibits at the Gibson Gallery being his only one-person shows. He also submits work to Association of Representational Artists (ARA) shows.

“I just think it’s a wonderful gallery,” stated Alp. “It’s a wonderful place to exhibit.”

“Africa Revisited” will be on exhibit through Sept. 23.

The Gibson Gallery is located at 140 Richmond St. and their current hours are Thursday-Sunday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

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The latest exhibit at the Gibson Gallery will take people to Africa thanks to the art of Donovan Alp.

Alp’s exhibit “Out of Africa” runs all of July with an opening reception for it being last Friday night at the gallery. Alp, who was born in Zimbabwe, has brought a collection of his paintings, pencil drawings, sculptures and jewellery to the gallery for the exhibit.

Alp still visits family in South Africa and when he goes, he photographs the wildlife that exists in the national parks in that country. He then bases his work off of that.

“I’ve got a huge source of subjects to paint,” he said.

Donovan Alp stands next to one of his many works that is currently on exhibit at the Gibson Gallery. “Out of Africa” runs seven days per week at the gallery through July 31 and features art in various different mediums.

The LaSalle resident comes to the Gibson Gallery every Thursday to paint with some of the works in the exhibit coming from those sessions. While painting with that group, he was encouraged by gallery members to have a show of his own.

“Trudy (Dempsey) is on the (exhibit) committee and she said ‘why don’t you put on a show?’,” said Alp. “Trudy and Bonnie (Deslippe) gave me a lot of support.”

Noting that he works in a variety of mediums, Alp said his art is just something he developed naturally. He said he has had “maybe one or two” formal art classes. He started collecting stones that he turns into jewellery when he was about 11-years-old and said he started painting while in school. He stopped painting for years, returning to it in 2003.

The “Out of Africa” exhibit is something he has been putting together for roughly one year, he added.

The Gibson Gallery is located at 140 Richmond St. and its summer hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week. Their phone number is 519-736-2826 and website is www.gibsonartgallery.com.